ABILENE – A brilliant, long-relief appearance by junior
Colton Brasher combined with a dozen base hits from the offense powered the Wildcats to an 8-1 win against Texas Southern (2-5) Sunday at Crutcher Scott Field, giving Abilene Christian (5-1) consecutive series wins to start the spring.
Brasher unexpectedly entered the game with one out in the second inning and a runner at first base after the Wildcats' athletic trainer visited starter
Drew Hanson on the mound. Hanson retired the Tigers in order in the first inning with two strikeouts, and looked good to start the second before uncorking a wild pitch that drew the attention of the trainer and coaching staff.
Following a prolonged warmup, Brasher dominated from the start by striking out the last two batters of the second inning. In fact, he didn't allow a baserunner until the fifth inning on an infield single. That runner, however, was quickly erased on a 5-4-3 double play.
Brasher again faced the minimum number of batters in the sixth and seventh, allowed an unearned run in the eighth, and fielded the final out of he ninth after collecting his 11th and 12th strikeouts of the afternoon. He finished his 7.2 innings with 112 pitches.
ACU scored its first two runs thanks to a couple of Tiger mishaps. Junior second baseman
Dalton Dunn, who led the offense with a 2-for-3, three run, three RBI day at the plate, broke the scoreless tie in the second inning on a wild pitch by Aaron Solis, and in the third inning, junior centerfielder Matt Muñoz scored on
Dalon Farkas' RBI single up the middle.
Muñoz advanced to second on a throwing error by catcher Blake Hicks, allowing him to score on Farkas' single back up the middle.
Dunn made it a 3-0 game in the fourth with a solo home run to left – his second of the year – and in the fifth, the Wildcats put the game to bed with four runs on four hits. Dunn again had the big hit that frame, plating two runners with his single to left field.
The score remained 7-0 until the eighth when shortstop
Robert Salazar scored on a
Derek Scott's second single of the day. Dunn, Scott, right fielder
Colton Eager and first baseman
Koby Claborn all finished the day with two base hits.
ACU's offense hit .300 over three games vs. Texas Southern, while its pitchers compiled a 3.67 ERA with 32 strikeouts.
The Wildcats' homestand continues with a 6:30 p.m. game Tuesday vs. UT Permian Basin.
